History VideoGame / AgeOfEmpires

In addition, the ''StarWars'' RTS ''Galactic Battlegrounds'' is ''Age of Empires'' [[RecycledINSPACE IN SPACE]] ([=LucasArts=] used the AOE II engine) and Ensemble developed an RTS based on the ''{{Halo}}'' series, ''Halo Wars'', which was Ensemble Studios' swan song, as [[BigNo Microsoft closed them down on 1/29/09]], making ''Age of Empires 4'' or ''5'' unlikely. There was also a spiritual successor in the form of EmpireEarth which was developed by the very same creator of Age of Empires and released on November 23, 2001.

** Also inverted: if you play on any difficulty below "Hard", the AI is handicapped. On "Standard" or "Easiest" difficulties, the AI won't attack villagers, making it practically impossible for the player to lose.

Initially released with the Greek civilisation, the Egyptians, Persians, Celts, Babylonians, and Norse have since been added, with Romans soon to follow. The free-to-play model has also been revamped, allowing persistent players to earn in-game currency to purchase paid content without paying a dime.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Heavy Cavalry is fast and hard hitting but the fact that they're expensive to produce is detrimental to your economy in the long run. An absolute law that can make or break a multiplayer game.

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Optional; if you want, you can configure the game as to have your enemies being red, your allies yellow and yourself blue.

* CriticalExistenceFailure: Any unit/building can be saved as long as it has one HP and you have a priest/builder to heal/repair it. But as soon as a flimsy arrow hits it, it's gone for good.

* FlavorText: Each of the games has a description of their unit, their origin and their use in war (for real ones).

* ReinventingTheWheel: You redevelop every known technology.

* WorkerUnit: The villagers and the settlers.

** ''Age of Empires: Mythologies'' - 2008 - See above.
* ''Age of Empires Online'' - 2011 - A free-to-play free-roaming RPG.

'''Age of Empires Online''', however, turned out to be very much in production. The announcement [[BrokenBase broke the base]] almost immediately. The game, made by Gas Powered Games, is intended to enable players "to create a living, growing online world, shared with friends and friendly rivals around the globe, [while] players can develop their own persistent online civilization, which grows even when the player is offline and watch as it progresses from a village to an empire. They can embark on quests along the way, alone or with friends, and to "immerse themselves in epic tales, quirky characters, adventure, history and strategy." The game also includes Live Achievements.
Initially released with the Greek civilisation, Egyptians, Persians, Celts, Babylonians, and Norse have since been added, with Romans soon to follow. The free-to-play model has also been revamped, allowing persistent players to earn in-game currency to purchase paid content without paying a dime.

* AgeOfTitles: a whole series.
* AnachronismStew / AlternateHistory: Will occur if there are vast technology differences between the players. Also, a few of the campaign scenarios contain events several years apart from each other, even within the same scenario.

* DigitizedSprites: The first two games used CGI Rendering before 3d technology became practical in performance and cost.
* ExpansionPack: The games have one or two official expansion packs, which usually rebalance units and come with new civilizations to play.
** Age of Empires Online, as to be expected, has DLC.
* FlavorText: each of the games has description of their unit, their origin and their use in war(for real ones).

* MacGuffin: The War Wagons, Ruins, Relics, etc items to collect/control

* SavageSetpiece: normal Elephants.
* SeparateButIdentical: Although in the first two games you can choose to have all the civilizations the same techs and units, save for the unique units in ''2'', it's averted most of the time, with different civilizations having access to different upgrades and not having access to some units - even having a unique unit or two for themselves. They also possess unique bonuses depending on the civilization.

* SpeakingSimlish: Present for the early ages in the first VideoGame/AgeOfEmpires games.

* TechTree: Somewhat different for all civilizations.

* YouRequireMoreVespeneGas: The first two games and the MMO remake all feature a whopping ''four'' resource types to manage.

'''Age of Empires Online''', however, turned out to be very much in production. The announcement [[BrokenBase broke the base]] almost immediately, though its free-to-play status may heal wounds. The game, made by Gas Powered Games, is intended to enable players "to create a living, growing online world, shared with friends and friendly rivals around the globe, [while] players can develop their own persistent online civilization, which grows even when the player is offline and watch as it progresses from a village to an empire. They can embark on quests along the way, alone or with friends, and to "immerse themselves in epic tales, quirky characters, adventure, history and strategy." The game also includes Live Achievements.

Initially released with the Greek civilisation, Egyptians, Persians, Celts, and Babylonians have since been added. The free-to-play model has also been revamped, allowing persistent players to earn in-game currency to purchase paid content without paying a dime.

--> ''Is the will of one man enough to forge an empire?''

In addition, the ''StarWars'' RTS ''Galactic Battlegrounds'' is ''Age of Empires'' [[RecycledINSPACE IN SPACE]] ([=LucasArts=] used the AOE II engine) and Ensemble developed an RTS based on the ''{{Halo}}'' series, ''Halo Wars'', which was Ensemble Studios' swan song, as [[BigNo Microsoft closed them down on 1/29/09]], making ''Age of Empires 4'' or ''5'' unlikely.
There was also a spiritual successor in the form of EmpireEarth which was developed by the very same creator of Age of Empires and released on November 23, 2001.

* SpiritualSuccessor: ''Empire Earth'', which was made by the same man who created ''Age of Empires''.

* CriticalExistenceFailure: Any unit/building can be saved as long as it has one HP and you have a priest/builder to heal/repair it.

* BoringButPractical: Sometimes the basic and cheaper units are the best.

* BoringButPractical: Sometimes the basic units are the best.
* AwesomeButImpractical: Cavalry is fast and hard hitting but the fact that they're expensive to produce is detrimental to your economy in the long run. An absolute law that can make or break a multiplayer game.

Initially released with the Greek civilisation, Egypt, Persia and the Celts have since been added. A revamp of the free to play model has been announced recently, which promises to allow players to unlock any feature without paying a dime, provided they are willing to invest enough time.

'''Age of Empires Online''', however, turned out to be very much in production. The announcement [[BrokenBase broke the base]] almost immediately, though its free-to-play status [[AndTheFandomRejoiced may heal wounds]]. The game, made by Gas Powered Games, is intended to enable players "to create a living, growing online world, shared with friends and friendly rivals around the globe, [while] players can develop their own persistent online civilization, which grows even when the player is offline and watch as it progresses from a village to an empire. They can embark on quests along the way, alone or with friends, and to "immerse themselves in epic tales, quirky characters, adventure, history and strategy." The game also includes Live Achievements.

Initially released with the Greek civilisation, Eqypt, Persia and the Celts have since been added. A revamp of the free to play model has been announced recently, which promises to allow players to unlock any feature without paying a dime, provided they are willing to invest enough time.

'''Age of Empires Online''', however, has turned out to be very much in production. The announcement [[BrokenBase broke the base]] almost immediately, though its free-to-play status [[AndTheFandomRejoiced may heal wounds]]. The game, currently under development by Gas Powered Games, is intended to enable players "to create a living, growing online world, shared with friends and friendly rivals around the globe, [while] players can develop their own persistent online Greek civilization, which grows even when the player is offline and watch as it progresses from a village to an empire. They can embark on quests along the way, alone or with friends, and to "immerse themselves in epic tales, quirky characters, adventure, history and strategy." The game will also include Live Achievements.

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Optional; if you want, you can configure the game as to have your enemies being red,your allies yellow and yourself blue.

* ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpires'' - 1997

* SpeakingSimlish: Present for the early ages in the first AgeOfEmpires games.

The first game of the AgeOfEmpires series, simply called '''Age of Empires''', was released in 1997. It had 12 civilizations (Assyria, Babylonia, Choson, Egypt, Greece, Hittites, Minoa, Persia, Phoenicia, Shang, Sumer and Yamato) and was set between the Stone and Iron Ages. The campaigns were set in AncientEgypt, AncientGreece, [[BiblicalTimes Babylon]], and Yamato. (Ancient Japan)

An expansion pack '''Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome''' [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin adds the Roman empire]] and 4 related civilizations. (Rome, Carthage, Palmyra and Macedonia) The campaigns were set in AncientRome, where the player, depending on the campaign, will side with Rome itself or with their enemies.

!!Age of Empires I and Rise of Rome give examples of:
* ArrowsOnFire: Alchemy
* CarryABigStick: If you are dumb enough to send villagers out to fight in the Stone or Tool Age, you will find them wielding a giant bone. A Big, Fucking, [[FreudWasRight Bone]]. At least that's what it looks like.
* CripplingOverspecialization: All the units had only one attack.
* ClassicCheatCode: [[NukeEm E=mc2 Trooper]]
* DidNotDoTheResearch: Averted. The civilizations are designed to fight the same way their historical counterparts did. The Egyptians, for example, are good at farming and have powerful chariots, but no access to elephants or decent infantry. And the campaigns follow historical events much more closely. There's a decent amount of history which can be learned from the games.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: It's not as refined as the sequels.
* EdutainmentGame: The first purpose of the game is entertainment, but there's plenty of historical information available: the campaigns in the first game dealt with the history of four civilizations - Egypt (the tutorial), Greece, Babylon, and Yamato. While the missions themselves certainly sacrificed historical accuracy for gameplay, the mission intros gave decent background information. ''Rise of Rome'''s campaigns covered the history of Rome from both Rome itself and their enemies.
* EnemyExchangeProgram: The priests can convert your enemies' units. And their priests can convert yours too!
* FinalDeath: Some unique units trigger your defeat when destroyed.
* FirewoodResources
* ForegoneConclusion: One mission in the expansion has you playing as Hannibal, bringing the elephants over the Alps. You know how it's going to end, even if you win, and the victory text basically says, "Well, you'll be remembered as a genius for this tactic, at least."
* FriendlyFireproof: Averted, carelessly deployed catapults would do as much to your own units as the enemy, sometimes more. This makes attacking someone with a fleet of triremes armed with catapults a very bad idea if the ships are all very close together.
* GlassCannon: Siege weapons.
* HeroicSacrifice: Priests in the expansion get the Martyrdom technology, which allows a conversion to be automatically sucessful provided you sacrifice the priest. It falls pretty squarely into AwesomeYetImpractical, though.
* HorseArcher
* IsometricProjection
* LeadTheTarget: The "Ballistics" upgrade.
* MadeOfExplodium: Birds. It's...weird.
* MightyGlacier: War elephants and elite infantry.
* MisplacedWildlife: This series is very bad at this, featuring American bald eagles and alligators despite being set entirely in the Old World (though a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Alligator relative of the latter]] could have been seen by the Shang) and while lions, gazelles and elephants fit in the Ancient Middle East they are a very weird vision when you are playing a campaign set in Europe or Japan.
* [[ShootTheMedicFirst Shoot The Priest First]]: And with good reason.
* ScratchDamage: The buildings have enough armour that this is all the average unit can do.
* SiegeEngines: Catapults and ballistae.
* SpeakingSimlish:
--> ''Roggan? Wolololooo...''
* SpikedWheels: Scythe Chariots in ''Rise of Rome.''
* TacticalRockPaperScissors: Infantry > Cavalry > Archers > Infantry.
* TakeThat: It features wildlife as various opponents, including stronger, more powerful versions of each. The first enemy encountered in the Yamato (Japanese) campaign? "[[KimbaTheWhiteLion Lion]] [[TheLionKing King]]".
* TechnologyLevels: Stone to Iron Age.
* UnitsNotToScale: When putting people inside Transport Ships.
* VideoGameTime: Damn, 2000 years pass by quickly.[[hottip:* :For those of you who [[DontExplainTheJoke can't get the joke]], that's the time the player must held with all the Relics/Artifacts in their power or the Wonder built in the first game in order to win without destroying the enemy.]]
* YouRequireMoreVespeneGas: Gold, Stone, Wood and Food.

--> ''Roggan?''

* FriendlyFireproof: Averted, carelessly deployed catapults would do as much to your own units as the enemy, sometimes more.